We often get asked what’s with this name "5 Tool Group and how did we come up with it?"

Well, “Group” is obvious because we have a team that focuses on a methodology that helps companies succeed in the third phase of innovation which is --- often misunderstood or neglected, yet critical in increasing companies’ market valuation --- to take an innovation from early development to market adoption. This is the black hole of innovation. Most fail right here based on our experience working for and with high tech companies.

We have seen companies that are very good in the first phase of innovation, which is to come up with great ideas. We have also seen companies are quite adept in the second phase of innovation, which is to take an idea and come up with an innovation, whether it is a product or a service. It is the third phase where companies quickly hit the proverbial wall. The 5 Tool Methodology purpose is to accelerate bringing innovation to the market.

So where did we get “5 Tool” from?

Willie Mays the "five tool player"

The “5 Tool” was taken from baseball where this term "5 tool player" is used on rare occasion to describe a baseball player that is great at the five key attributes of baseball:

1) Hit for power2) Hit for average3) Field well4) Throw well5) Run fast

Players possessing these five skills are so rare and highly valued that very few players fall into this lofty category, such as Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. and Alex Rodriguez.

Five essential tools of innovation success

Using this analogy to innovation, we believe that if you want to be the Willie Mays' of Innovation like Steve Jobs. Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, you need five essential tools of innovation for great success:

All of these have to be combined with strong business/finance focus. Unless you have all of these five tools well integrated, it is very difficult for a company to win the World Series in the innovation game and keep repeating like the way Apple has done it for so many years now.

Today you just can't compete with a stove pipe approach that has worked in the past. The main reason is that innovation is driven from a bottom-up approach instead of a top-down approach. Technology has a lot to do with it. You have to modify your processes to create new business models and the only methodology that supports this new reality is 5 Tool Methodology.

Let us know what you think based on what you are seeing or have experienced. Let's work together to improve this. Send me an email at jay@5toolgroup.com.

Jay Oza is the founder and business development consultant at 5ToolGroup, a company that specializes in helping startups and small companies bring innovation to market within 90 days through our unique 5Tool Methodology that integrates sales, marketing, partnerships, customer development and agile/lean methodology to enable frugal or ("Jugaad") innovation with a strong business focus. We believe that to thrive today, you have to constantly be looking for ways to do lot more with lot less. This has proven to be the only insurance for success today. You can reach me at jay@5toolgroup.com.